Religion News

Pikeville, Ky. Worshippers at First Presbyterian Church prayed for Gov. Paul Patton and his family, after their most famous member confessed to a sexual relationship with a Kentucky businesswoman.

"I truly believe he has a repentant heart," the Rev. Scott Weist, Patton's pastor, said Sunday.

Weist said he has spoken with Patton several times since he acknowledged the affair last week, and the governor asked him to ask the church for forgiveness. Neither Patton nor his wife Judi attended Sunday's service.

Tina Conner, a nursing home owner, has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Patton that claims he turned state regulators loose on her business, effectively closing it down, after she broke off their affair.

Weist read the congregation a statement from church elders saying the church loves the Pattons and will stand by them.

South Carolina pagans gather for 'Pride Day'

Spartanburg, S.C. In the very conservative, very Christian upstate section of South Carolina, a group of pagans met to welcome the autumnal equinox, celebrate the harvest and study the tenets of their faiths.

The event was Saturday at Croft State Park.

Pagan is a broad term to define a person who is not a Christian, Jew or Muslim. It also can incorporate nature or earth worship. Under this umbrella also fall mystic practices, such as Wicca or witchcraft.